The Symbiote Of Bending
by Arichos
Summary: They say the Avatar is the only one who can controll all four elements. That no other bender could bend any other element then his own. My brother proved them wrong.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own avatar: the last air bender blahbidy blah blah

This is a story about an unknown hero. He happens to be my brother, who now lyes encased in a tomb of ice at the bottom of the ocean where the great water spirits will protect and preserve his now sacred body. I never understood him, his ways, his ideas, until I watched him slowly die in front of me, telling me an extraordinary and thrilling tale of adventure with the avatar. Not all these words I can say are true, but like all stories, legend is always and shall always be exaggerated in some way. I am proud to be the author of these pages, and hopefully these words will bring my brothers story to the ears of the world and he will become revered in the same divinity as the avatars.

The best place to start is..well…the start. To understand how my brother was, you need to know where he came from.

He was born one year before I did, one year before fire lord Sozen unleashed his army upon the nations with a firey hell of destruction. Our mother was a simple peasant, living in the northern water tribe with an abusive family. His father was a soldier, who happened to drunkenly rape her when she was a bar maid, and was killed in a fight against the Sha, the keepers of law. I don't exactly know why she wanted to keep him and raise him, despite everything her family did to try and discourage her from letting him live. But she named him Ara, which means fate.

MY father, a fishermen for our tribe, fell in love, and being the caring man he is, took her in, wed her, and supported both of them. Then I was born. And the whole war began. My father was drafted, and once again my mother was left alone, now raising two children by herself, with a dim hope of seeing her husband return alive.

Ara showed a lot of mother in him. He had the same ocean blue eyes, his hair icey white that he would tie into a pony tail with the front draping like icicles just above his eyebrows. But everything else was definitely from his father. He was tall for his age, and his body grew with natural strength and brawn.

I of course, turned out slim, skinny and weak. I cut my brown hair short, always short in the traditional warrior style, which was my dream. I wish I had my brothers eyes, but of course, I inherited brown.

Immediately, my brother showed the talents of a bender. The snow beneath his feet would float and move to his will, which he laughed at playfully, trying to make images or play games with it, unknowingly training himself in the ways of water bending. My mother was thrilled, proud to be the parent of a water bender.

As I got older, when I would see him do all these amazing things, I would try and do them myself, with no luck at all. Ara even tried to help me, but no use. I couldn't make a single snow flake flicker in any direction. Despite the fact that he was protective and loving of me, I was still extremely jealous, though I never let him know. That bottled up anger would lead to my brothers eventual exile.

Ara was soon placed under the guidance of a master, whose talents as a teacher made Ara's abilities grow further then anyone would have expected. By the age of ten, he exceded his master, and saught to increase his abilities on his own.

Now, you have to understand, the master of the tribe held much respect from the people of our town, and blowing off your teacher who taught you almost everything you know is a huge offence. So instead of displaying his obviously much more powerful aptitude at controlling water, he just stopped showing up for classes, wandering off on his own for hours on end into the snowy hills to practice his bending. He pretended that he could care less for learning the sacred arts. It was a huge disappointment to a lot of people, including mother, but somehow, he still held a little admiration from everyone. I couldn't stand it.

I was the only one who knew of his secret. I watched him one day wandering off, and decided to follow to see where he would go to instead of the temple. There I saw him do something master Tock could have never done in his life. Ara managed somehow to figure out how to create his own avalanche out of the snow, and control it completely. The force and power behind that much bending had to be enormous, beyond any known ability of anyone, even the avatars.

I kept his secret for months, and for those months he trained harder, gaining an almost God like grip over water bending. To this day, I can't comprehend the power that layed inside him.

The war continued, and so did the absence of my father. No news of his death was carried back to our village, but no news of his living did either. My mother was heartbroken. And to see my mother in such a state tore Ara apart. And soon he discovered absinth.

Absinth was a drink, distilled from some kind of special plant that was grown in the temple. It was mostly for spiritual use, but others found joy and recreation in the hallucinations it creates. My brother used it to blind himself from my mothers suffering.

Angered by his blind disregard, my bottled up jealousy and rage blew up, and I told master Tock everything.

It wasn't pretty.

Tock was never a subltle man, and his temper was never calm. Enraged, he ran off to the distillery, and challenged my intoxicated brother to a fight.

A fight in my village meant a challenge, not a death match. And under the influence, Ara was destined to ignore the rule of life.

With hundreds of onlookers, my brother took two steps, waving his arms in a form Tock was unfamiliar with, knowing he had never taught Ara anything like it.

Using his former teachers surprise to his advantage, Ara finished the bending move with an abrupt stomp to the ground, creating an icicle tower right beneath Master Tocks feet, and impaled his entire body.

Shocked and appalled, my brother was arrested immediately by the Sha, amazingly, without a fight.

Ara was tried in front of the grand court, and I watched him with a hardened heart as he was sentenced into exile, my weeping mother next to me.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ara, you have committed a crime that is traditionally punished by execution," king Demin was speaking at the end of the court session. "But given the circumstances you presented in your defense, the council has agreed to reduce the sentence to exile."

A gasp traveled through the crowd and my mother glanced up with a small glimmer of happiness in her gaze. Her fear of her first born being put to death was quelled. I guess knowing he's still alive, even though she would never see him again, brought her some kind of comfort.

The opposite effect hit me, and my anger rose. In my mind, I had tricked myself into wishing that he was dead, but in my heart, I knew I would be crushed at the sight of his death.

"The Sha will escort you to a ship that will take you away from our island." The king finished. The two Sha elite at his sides forcefully took hold of his shoulders. Ara angrily shrugged them off, freezing there feet to the floor without making a single move with his hands or any source of water anywhere close to him. (I would find out later that he had found the key to controlling moisture in the air)

"I'll go on my own," he growled, pulling his wrists apart and breaking the chain that connected the cuffs on his hands. He never took them off, a symbol to constantly remind him of his shame, he explained to me.

While the two sha tried to unfreeze there feet, Ara strode away, lowing his his head to try and hide his tears. As he passed us by, he lifted his head slightly, and gave my mother and me the saddest look I had ever seen upon his face. Mother burst into tears, trying to run forward and hug him, but I had to hold her back, knowing the law of the land stated that no one may touch one shamed by the grand court. Her wails followed him as he stepped beyond the great doors and out into the village.

I wouldn't truly realize the selfishness of my actions and the pain it would cause my mother until her death almost a week later.

Ara wandered to the edge of the city away from the dock, watched closely by the Sha who were ready to take him if he didn't start walking towards his ship. Too deep in anger and sadness, Ara didn't care, ignoring them completely when they shouted orders at him.

With his fists clenched, he continued on in weeping silence toward the edge of the glacier, staring out into the vast ocean as the sun started to set above the horizon, casting the orange hue across the sky as if signaling for the moon to rise. He stood as close to the edge as possible, considering whether or not he should just give himself to the spirit of the ocean, or let fate decide.

After a few seconds of debating, Ara spread his legs shoulder width apart and placed his hands at his waist level, palms facing downward with his fingers spread wide. As if pushing an invible force, Ara's hands lowered and the ice a few feet behind him cracked, sliding off the main glacier and becoming an ice floe that fell to the waters. With one last glance over his shoulder at his home, Ara sat down, and laid on his back upon the freezing surface, and cried as the current carried him away.

After he was a good mile or so away from our village, he stared intensely at the stars and moon, remembering all the ledgends he loved hearing as a youngster about the gods of the moon and ocean. Closing his eyes, he began praying.

Completely lost, nowhere to call home, never to return to his own home, never to see his mother or little brother again, there was one place to turn to.

In his prayers, he hoped someone would protect me and mother, and for himself, he wished for death.

Ara didn't keep track of the time, but it was days and days as the ice floe drifted, carrying him further and further out. Hypothermia could set in at any moment, and his stomach clenched with hunger and thirst.

And then it seemed the spirits would grant him his wish as a great storm erupted around him, and he was thrown from the ice flowe and into the violent waters. Closing his eyes, he lost conciousness when his body gave way to the freezing cold. Death was welcome, but it never came.


	3. Chapter 3

As fate would have it, my brother ended up washing upon the shores of the fire nation capital. A patrol unit picked him up, and decided to strip him of his water tribe clothes and fit his unconscious body into the attire of a slave. He woke up hours later inside a small cell, shaking and twitching with weakness, his vision blurry but able to make out the thick iron bars surrounding him on all sides.

In front of him was an old stale piece of bread and a cup of undiluted water that had particles of rust floating through it.

Grimacing at the green spongy mold on the bread, he tore that piece off and chewed on the rest, choking on it as he swallowed. It was like trying to eat your own shirt that hadn't been washed in years.

He stared at the glass of water for a moment, a debate surging in his mind. He could use it as a weapon to escape. But on the other hand, he was definitely dehydrated, and the all the moisture in his mouth and throat had been sucked away from the bread. Obviously, if they were being so careless to give him water, they didn't know he was a water bender. There would be more around, and he was sure other opportunities would arise.

Making sure no one would pop up randomly, he tipped the glass upside down, taking out the water and leaving all the other particles at the bottom of the glass before drinking it.

Somewhat nourished, Ara's vision was able to focus better, and he could see the room beyond the bars was solid brick wall with a single staircase leading up to a single door.

Just as his eyes looked upon it, the knob turned and the door swung open, blinding him with the light that filtered in and forcing him to shield his eyes. He heard multiple steps, and soon saw a man dressed in heavy robes in multiple shades of red. Jewelry hung from him like extra appendages, hiding his frail body from those who looked upon him, though his hands leaned heavily on a cane. His face was on the border of elderly, with deep lines creasing his square jawed face. A long narrow beard hung down to his chest, and his brown eyes were almost hidden beneath thick bushy eye brows. He had completely shaven his hair, a symbol of his status, and his arrogance as well.

"Welcome to my humble abode, slave," his voice said in a glutteral croak. "have you ever worked before? Or are you new to your…how should I say it…social status?"

Ara didn't answer. Silence was a great weapon when dealing directly with the enemy.

"Your silence is defiant, and already answers my question," the man said after a few moments. "My name is Duke Io, but you shall know me as master for now. You shall be the hand servant for my daughters, Mia and Lora. You do your job dutifully, you'll find life here isn't bad. Refuse to do your work, and I will make sure your life is a living _hell_."

He said the word "hell" with particular emphasis, and as if to add grand effect and intimidation, he opened up his palm and created a fire ball. "Do we understand each other?"

Ara nodded slowly, not at all frightened of the old man and his threats.

"Good," Duke Io said, and from his robes, he fetched a long old looking key that he used to open the cage. "I shall introduce you to my daughters."

Still on his guard, Ara eyed the old man cautiously as he stepped out, and after the door clanged shut behind him, he followed the old man obediently up the stairs, hoping to gain some kind of trust and favoritism from him that he would hope to use for his escape.

As they left the basement, Ara's eyes went wide at the sudden enormity of the Duke Io's mansion. Quite contrary to the dark, smelly and enclosed basement, the main house was huge. The ceiling reached twenty feet above them, supported by many stone pillars that lined the wall. Paintings, vases, and other decorative objects filled the room with tall flowing drapes covering the windows. The floor was made of a pure marble that shined a reflection of the room, and about halfway to the ceiling were hundreds of burning torches one after the other.

"Quite amazing, isn't it?" Duke Io said, noticing his fascination. "You were unconscious when you were brought in, so your surprise is expected. It took a year for a hundred engineers to build, but it was well worth the wait," he said with a snicker. "Come, my daughters are in there rooms."

He led Ara down another long hallway toward a split at the end where he could see two entrances to two rooms.

"Mia! Lora! Come out and meet your new servant" Duke Io called.

"I hope you didn't buy another useless old woman, father," A drawling voice of a spoiled brat came from the right room as a tall young woman walked out. Her long dark hair draped over her shoulders, her eyes the same as her fathers without the bushy eyebrows. She wore a long elengant, orange colored dress that dragged on the floor. She was absolutely stunning in her beauty, but her personality was obviously that of poisoned honey.

Her eyes blinked when they laid upon Ara, seeing a young, hansom and muscled youth standing beside her father.

"oooh! He's a pretty one!" she cooed.

"Now now, Mia, I will be the one to decide if he's worthy for you. LORA!" he yelled again. "Come out here!"

"Coming Father!"

The second daughter had a voice like a flute, and obviously much younger. As she stepped out from her room, Ara smelled sweet flower perfume, and a soothing aura filled the room. Even Duke Io seemed to feel it as his frail shoulders relaxed and a broad smile entered his lips.

Lora was much more beautiful then her older sister, and Mia was beautiful enough. Her long blonde hair was like golden silk honey flowing over her shoulders. Her soft light skin seemed untouched by her culture that usually carried a dark tone, and her features smooth and seamless. Here bright blue eyes carried the innocence of a young child as they gazed upon Ara, though clearly she was of age, wearing a less formal dress then that of mia that only reached above her ankles.

"You like sister?" Mia asked with a snigger, seeing Lora unable to take her eyes off of him.

"Y..yes…" Lora stuttered, blushing a little.

"I hope you two treat him better then the last," Duke Io interjected, tapping his cane against the floor to gain there attention.

"Yes Father," Mia answered.

"Don't kill this one Mia," Her younger sister said. "he's young, and obviously strong."

Io chuckled, and looked to Ara. "Take good care of them, and I shall take good care of you," he said before lumbering away, his cane making an echoing tap that followed his footsteps.


	4. Chapter 4

Life as a slave in the household of Io seemed rough for most, but being a personal servant of two beautiful young women seemed to have special privileges of its own as he would find out from the other slaves. Every night, he was stuffed into a large dungeon like room with all the other slaves, given a simple sleeping bag to sleep on a hard cold floor. He gave them the impression that he was a mute, and communicated only with nods.

He found out quickly that beside the fact that she was attracted to him, Mia was in no way kind; he was constantly laboring on the most hardest of tasks, some of them pointless. He would rearrange her entire room, only to put it back the same way. He would carry multiple trays of food to find she wasn't hungry anymore. She made messes just for him to spend an hour cleaning on his hands and knees.

But Lora was definitely different. She was much more timid, shy, and lenient towards him. Many times he would find himself alone with her, giving her massage, cooling her down with a fan, etc. Ara admitted, he was falling in love, but knew she would never return it, seeing as he was a slave and she was the daughter of a duke.

Io was pleased with his daughter's satisfaction with his work, and started to treat him much better then any slave he had owned previously, and somehow jealousy again played a part later in his downfall from preferential treatment, but that's later in the story.

Ara was constantly memorizing each detail of the house as he would travel its hallways, and try to get outside as much as he could. One day, Mia and Lora took him to the flee market to buy make up, accessories and anything else they desired, using him as a bag boy to carry everything, and he used it to his complete advantage. A plan of escape started to form in his mind.

After four months of planning, something huge happened that would play a huge role in his adventure.

He was mopping the floor, bending the water a bit to clean it more thoroughly, (no one still knew he was a water bender) when mia came up to him dressed in nothing but a towel.

"Boy," she said curtly, as she always called him, "I wish to take a warm bath. Heat up some water and bring it to my bath."

Ara rolled his eyes. He would have to go down to the kitchens, heat up a cauldron of water, and carry it bucket by bucket a distance of about a quarter mile. He nodded slowly, and dropped the mop he was using, turning around to perform his task. Little did he know, Mia eyed him lustfully for other plans in mind.

One by one, he brought a bubbling pale of water to the baths, pouring it in and making sure he didn't spill a single drop. The steam was almost choking, making him sweat badly from all the heat and carrying and walking back and forth.

On his thirtieth journey, the bath was finally filled with warm steaming water, and Mia stepped in with a pleased smile. Ara bowed to her, and turned to leave.

"Boy!" She yelled before he could take another step. He turned back around, and his eyes went wide when he saw the towel had dropped to her feet, revealing her perfectly proportioned body.

"Don't leave yet.." she said seductively, stepping into the water and grinning at his stare, pushing up her chest so her large breasts were more prominent. "You look sweaty and dirty. Come take a bath with me…"

Ara blushed with a deep red, shaking his head, thinking how much trouble he would be in if Duke Io discovered him in this situation.

"Father is out to the palace with lord Sozen, He won't be coming home till late night, unable to stand by himself," Mia told him as if she read his mind. "Come in boy, or trust me, you'll pay for disobeying me."

She said her last sentence with hints of an impending wrath. Ara debated both sides, seeing definite trouble if he refused and possible trouble if he obeyed. He decided the latter.

Feeling a little embarrassed, he slowly stripped himself of his slave clothes, having never been naked in front of a woman, not to mention a beautiful one from the fire nation. Mia smiled wide as he climbed in, the warm water making his skin tingle as he submerged his whole body.

"Now, was that so hard?" she said seductively with the same smile stuck to her lips, inching closer to him until her breasts touched his chest, his heart beat pounding. She put one hand to his cheek, and took him into a lustfull kiss, which at that point he gave into his manly desires, embracing her fully and taking her.

When they were finished, both reaching there peak with loud moaning of pleasure, she pulled away, a satisfied grin coming over her. "thank you boy," she said as she climbed out, replacing the tower over her body. "My father tries desperately to keep us sheltered here, and to deviate feels wonderful."

Ara didn't answer, only staring at her curiously, wondering if she'll use the past few minutes as a threat later on.

"I'm done with him Lora." Mia called to the hallway. "He's all yours from now on."

Ara jumped, hearing her call to her sibling with a feeling of shock. Before another occurrence of lust could arise, he got out of the bathtub, grabbing for his clothes and put them on quickly to the sound of mia's giggles.

Lora came in, fully clothed in her traditional silk robes with a blush on her cheeks and a slight smile in the line of her mouth.

"come on," she said timidly as he put on his sandals. Wondering what was going on, he followed her dutifully to her room, and when he stepped in, she closed and locked the door.

"Your in danger here," she told him immediately, her voice carrying a tone of worry. "Daddy's new slave saw you when you came in with him, wearing water tribe clothes, and he's speaking with the other servants. Daddy will find out, and you'll be killed"

"Why are you telling me this?"

Ara's words shocked both of them. They just seemed to tumble out of his mouth abruptly, ending his mute disguise to Lora, who stared at him with an open mouth.

"You CAN talk!" She exclaimed. "Oh, this makes everything better!"

Ara was taken aback. Why did it make things better?

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked again.

Lora blushed, looking away a little. "Cuz…Cuz I'm in love with you."

That shocked Ara even more then the fact that she was telling him he was in danger, but it did answer his question quite well.

"But we need to leave before daddy comes home…Mia promised to keep the other slaves busy so they don't try to bound and gag you and turn you into the authorities…"

As she was saying this, Ara could hear Mia's high pitched yell screaming orders beyond the walls of Lora's room.

"We?" Ara asked. "You mean…"

"Yes," Lora answered before he could finish. "I'm coming with you. I'm tired of this place. I've never been beyond the city walls, and I want to see the world."

It felt like hundreds of questions and thoughts he didn't have time for were flowing through is head. "You know you can't return?" he asks.

Lora nodded determinedly. "I don't care."

"Do you have an escape plan?"

Lora nodded again. "Here," she said, giving him new robes and a piece of parchment that looked like a ticket. "I got this for you yesterday…it permits you to escort me through the city and beyond. Mia bridled horses for us. And she gave me this to give to you."

She grabbed a large water pouch with a sling and handed it to him.

"Your sister is a lot kinder then she acts," Ara told her, swinging the sling over his head so the pouch rested at his side.

Lora gave a mischievous smile. "Only to me," she told him.


End file.
